Ten years ago today Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook out of his dorm room at Harvard University. What started from a college only social network has grown to having over 1.2 billion active users worldwide. All kinds of statistics have been produced about Facebook’s usage. I’ll just add one: In Portugal, my home country, it reaches 70% of internet connected people.
In a statement Zuckerberg says “It’s been an incredible journey so far, and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. It’s been amazing to see how people have used Facebook to build a real community and help each other in so many ways”.
I’ve been on Facebook since 2007. One of the biggest criticisms I hear about it is about privacy issues and the constant changes made. Privacy is probably one of the biggest concerns online, and it should be. But one should realize that it’s up to them to decide what to share, and to whom. It’s great having a huge “megaphone” where you can share what’s on your mind. Never forget the old maxim though, “once on the internet, always on the internet”. So you should probably think twice before posting that picture from last weekend’s party where you ended up dancing in your underwear on a tabletop. Unless your future professional prospects include a pole. I’m joking, but really, think twice before you post.
The big question is “Will Facebook be around another 10 years?”. I really can’t say. It would be quite something if it did, in this era of constant change and the chase for the next new thing. I’m sure it will still be around in 2, 3 years, but longer than that who knows?
To me, Facebook’s biggest strength is the way it connects people in a personal way. And that can’t be bad.
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